Christmasy Things

I can't believe It's almost here! 

These last few weeks have been so much fun. We've had visits from BOTH grandmas and grandpas, explored downtown, got out of school(!!!), and just enjoyed being home together doing all kinds of Christmasy things.

Here are just a few of them....

lights at Temple Square, City Creek, Grand America

photos from my iphone

 

Gingerbread Housing.....

(all thanks to leftover Halloween candy and leftover Hershey bars from summer s'mores)

see last year's house here

A Christmasy Sunday

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 

-Luke 2:11

 

art by Lorenzo Lotto

May you and yours be blessed this Christmas!

so long, farewell

Dear summer,

The time has come again--it comes every year. The time you decide to leave us--quietly slipping out the door. 

I usually get mad at you--angry that you could leave me after all we've been through. 

But I decided, rather than kicking and screaming in an end-of-summer tantrum, I'd just say thank you.

Thank you for the warm nights where we ate ice cream in the grass until the sun went down. 

Thank you for your starry skies that blinked down on us as we sat by a fire, high on top of a mountain. 

Thank you for the heat. OH! Dry summer heat that grabbed us by the hands and drug us to the pool, day after day.

Thank you for the s'mores. All 700 of them that I'm pretty sure I ate. 

Thank you for no bedtimes, no schedules, no shoes, and no responsibilities, whatsoever.

Thank you for the opportunity we had to drive and drive and drive to see the the world's tallest trees, and to chase the waves in and out of the ocean. 

Thank you for your warmth and rain that made the earth sprout and grow tall, so we could eat delicious food, straight from the ground.

Thank you for new freckles, sun kissed skin, and pink and fiery sunsets every night. 

Thank you for your powerful thunderstorms that light up the house and shake the walls, reminding us that we are small. 

Thank you for fireworks, rodeos and burgers on the grill. 

Thank you summer, for being you. Don't forget to come back soon.

love,

me

...

my littles, ventura, summer 2010

We have had a weird week, which is really the only way to say it.

My thoughts coming in are getting tangled with those going out,

and time seems to crawl and then speed up without any advance notice.

My emotions have been hilariously roller coaster-ish,

 and I've eaten some reeeealllllly weird things, 

mostly schmeared, sprinkled, or frosted with some kind of chocolate. 

I was greeted this morning with little notes and scribbles placed on my pillow, and four wide eyes and matching grins IN-MY-FACE, anxiously awaiting my slow departure from dreamland. 

Hand drawn MEs (with giant yellow hair), and little "I love you mommy"s carefully written out in their favorite colors. 

Instantly, I was feeling better. 

With just a little reminder--so simple and drawn in crayon--

I am a mother

Better yet, I am THEIR mother. 

What did I do to deserve them? 

Given these two little balls of clay to shape and mold and help them learn and grow. 

(but thank goodness I am better at baby-growing than I am at sculpting!) 

 A perfect reminder to me, that all that matters is everything that I have--
my little stick figure family. 

My littles that see me so simply with yellow curls and large moles. 

A husband that knows exactly how to make me laugh (and can also draw a pretty mean stick figure)

So we have slowed down a bit. 

A few more games and extra snuggling at bedtime.

More I love yous--to family! friends! strangers!

 And most likely a future phone bill with 

waaaaaaay too many texts.

oops.

I feel so hip.

Sometimes I laugh and get so embarrassed that YOU come spend time HERE to read all my silly thoughts. 

I am really a big dork, I assure you. 

But as long as I have you here--I hope that today you will really listen. 

It's a brand new week--and I know you are busy with your lists and schedules and scheduled lists. 

But if you could just do me a tiny favor..... and slow down just a bit--just a teeny little bit.
Tell someone you love them.

Take time to really notice what is around you and what matters most. 

It feels really good, I promise.

winter wednesday

I don't know about you, but for our family.....not a lot happens in winter. We're kind of boring. No big family vacations, no camping trips, no all day festivals with parades and fireworks, no soccer games, no races.....nothing. 

So instead, we celebrate the little things.

Family movie night.

Trips to the Library. 

The Children's Museum. 

Lunch with daddy.

An almost-60° day. This one was kinda a big deal. Shorts went on, shoes came off, the windows and doors were opened and burgers were grilled. In winter!! 

Sharing dessert with your family.
GIANT cookie+icecream+spoons+family=perfect

Chocolate Chip Pizookie

1/2 c butter
1/4 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I used a combo of milk and bittersweet)
pecans (optional)
Cream the butter and the sugars until light. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Continue mixing while adding the egg-mix until incorporated.  Add the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Combine the flour, soda and salt in another bowl. With a whisk, stir to combine. With the machine on low, slowly add the flour mixture. Mix until just combined, careful not to over mix. Fold in the chocolate.

Press dough into greased tart pan.

Top with pecans if you like (we like).

Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes. We like our pizookie underdone, so it's nice and gooey in the middle. If you want it more done, bake it longer, well no kidding.

Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream and lots of spoons.

Winter Survival Tip #7:
celebrate the little things

What little things are you enjoying?

indulge me.

These last three weeks of our journey to healthy eating have been so fun!
We've talked about becoming aware of our eating habits, fast food addictions (mine), and quick meal ideas so we don't have to eat nachos every day (me again).

I feel like we've learned a lot--yes WE!
I am LOVING all your comments and suggestions that go along with the posts! Thank you.

Today we're going to talk about something just as important as planning ahead so you can have a healthy meal ready in no time....

.....we're going to talk about relaxing. 
chilling out.
loosening up.....just a bit.

Treating yourself every now and then.

Enjoying food as it was meant to be enjoyed, and not feeling guilty about it.

You see, I like to drag my birthday out as long as possible. 
It started Saturday when Tara and I went shopping and then went to Gourmandise for cake. yum. cake.

Sunday we needed dessert (because what are Sundays without dessert?), so we had brownies.

Tuesday we went to our favorite Mexican place for dinner (extra chips and salsa please) and then celebrated at home with birthday cookies (the best) from RubySnap.
(LOVED the dipped Penelope and the Vivianna)

I finished the rest of the cookies Wednesday. Hey, they were my birthday cookies.

Robby and I will head out to some place tasty this weekend, and I've been thinking I may have to make a cake.....because it seems only natural to start, and end a birthday week in cake.....don't you think?

If I ate like this ALL of the time, that would be a problem--wouldn't you agree? But I'm taking a week out of my life to fully indulge in my favorite things, completely guilt free.

My challenge this week for you is to pick something you love 
(cake? chips and salsa? ten pounds of sour cream on your enchiladas? an ice cold coke with lime?) and enjoy it. Guilt free. 

As long as we make daily healthy choices, and exercise regularly there is nothing wrong with enjoying our favorite treats every now and then.

what are your favorite things to indulge in? 
I have a few days left....maybe I need some ideas.

*as always I'll be posting my favorite comments and helpful tips from YOU on my facebook page

disclaimer: it may seem as though I'm making up rules so I can eat guilt free for a week. yeaaaahhh.....that's probably right. but I'm still enjoying it.

where'd she go?

we are 12.

I'm either the world's worst blogger, or the worlds best "taking advantage of vacation-er".....

Either way, I'm back, with a hard slap in the face from reality, and we should be up and running again soon. 

Happy 2011!

Christmas was here

It came, and even quicker.... it went. 

Leaving us a house strewn with paper, bows, new toys, a sugar high, and a warm fuzzy feeling after reflecting on another year gone by.

the weekend went a little like this:

1 happy mother in a teeny tiny kitchen prepping for a Christmas Eve feast

2 crazy kids bouncing off the walls and hanging from the ceiling (and myself joining them a few times)

4000 pieces of glitter and oats scattered around the yard, which supposedly baits the reindeer? I'm not really sure why we do that.....

1 feast with 1 chicken that took 1400 hours to cook was eaten by,

1 small family who stuffed themselves silly.

1 day left of our advent, where we opened 

2 pairs of matching jammies (my kids will be dressed in matching pjs until they leave my house)

We read from Luke 2, and then The Night Before Christmas. 

Cookies, carrots, and notes were left for Santa and the reindeer.

3 minutes were spent outside looking for Rudolph's nose, until toes got cold and raced to bed.

1700 giggles as Robby and I excitedly got Christmas ready. 

27 hours it seemed like we were in bed....just WAITING impatiently for the time we could get up.

Star Wars everything, 1000 color crayons and paints, and 2 of the exact same body butter, from Robby to me, and me to he, because we are super exciting like that.

1 little girl who got 1 hat that hasn't come off her head.....she loves it that much.

What seemed like a few minutes....and it was all over and done. 

1 giant breakfast of strata and sticky buns, 

and then hours of playing, napping, movie watching, and napping some more. 

We topped the night off with a trip to the theater for Narnia, which we LOVED!

(although there were 4 covered eyes through a few parts....but they are still talking about it:)

a few photos, of our very green Christmas...

.....when can we do this again?


Hope your Christmas was perfect!  

2010 in 5 Minutes

Reverb10 Prompt #15:

Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010. (Author: Patti Digh)

Birthday dinner at Reef's in Park City. The streets were packed with Sundancers, the air was freezing, the food was delicioius.

The boy's birthday, and Easter on the same Sunday! My baby turned 5.

San Diego with Robby, the sand blistered our feet. 

A freezing lake and a waaaaaay a too late night with the Southwells and the Stephens. haha lightshow.

Meeting my Dr. for the first time and feeling like we had finally made it.

The girl's teaparty. I have never seen her so excited. We had 700 cupcakes.

Wasatch Back. Ragnar Hill. Ran it. Boo-yah (I don't want to remember that I just said boo-yah)

4th of July. Homemade icecream. Fireworks in the street and a fire with friends.

8th anniversary. Lots and lots of yummy food. Ben Folds in Park City.

The farmers market.

Gardening finally clicked. I loved our garden!

Tomatoes.

Pool.

Camping with my family. Freezing nights. Still fun. Smore's of course.

Beach House. Tidepools.

Two kids and one husband in school. Woe-is-me.

Fall.

Vegas Ragnar. Best weekend ever!! It's all a hazy blur now because we were all so tired, but it's the best hazy memory I have!

San Francisco with the girls. Another awesome Drs appointment. West Side story and SALSA!

Thanksgiving. Montana. Freezing.

Christmas tree lights, snuggling on the couch watching a movie just the four of us.

Baking. baking. baking.

One week till Christmas.....I love this feeling!

time's up.

day twenty two

I am thankful for spur of the moment date nights!!

I am thankful for AWESOME FRIENDS who take our kids into the wee hours of the morning so we can go watch Harry Potter late Friday  night.

I am thankful for mint m&ms.......best movie snack ever!

And I will say it, I am thankful for Harry Potter. 

It's true, I loved it!
Best HP movie yet--so entertaining and very well done.
I am so thankful we only have to wait until July to see Part 2!!

go see it!!


What are YOU thankful for today?

i caved....

I did.

I never thought I'd be so trendy.

But with polaroid film so expensive,

and my original (GIANT) instax dead and gone (RIP),

I had to get this one.

And I'm super duper excited.

ps. speaking of RIP.

I also am in the market for a new printer. And a new scanner. Perhaps a combo?...I am clueless. What do you like? (nothing super fancy....I just need to get the job done)

Friday Love

Crazy week!! But so happy to be back as a family again!

And happy to have another fun filled weekend with Grandma and Grandpa who are up from California! This weekend will be filled with good old-fashioned (literally) fun as we celebrate Pioneer Day here in Utah!

We LOVE Mango and Black Bean Salsa!

1 Mango, diced

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1 handful of bell pepper, diced

1 handful of red onion, diced

1 handful of chopped cilantro

Juice of a lime

s&p

Eat it with a spoon.

Perfect with chips (the Archer Frams black corn and flax seed are the best chips in the WORLD)

Yummy on grilled chicken

Insanely good on grilled salmon!

We LOVED seeing Ben Folds with the Utah Symphony!! Such a good show! He is so talented and just flat out weird, and I don't know anyone else who can sing about absolutely nothing like he can! And of course Deer Valley is soooooooo pretty.

all photos taken with the shake-it app.

We love the summer. And parks. And red stained lips from our favorite Sno Shack.

WHAT?!!! Have you seen Inception??? SEE IT. SEE IT!! Does it sound like I am screaming? I am! It is so.....just.....uh....I don't know what to say. I am still thinking about it and wish I could see it again right now. It's crazy. I get so excited and/or frightened to dream now.

I love this entry way. I would love to have an entry way. I love the frames, the door, the windows, the floor, the furnace, the floor, the floor, and the number 33. I love homes, and home projects. In the past few weeks we have painted, spray painted, moved in, moved out, raided my grandmas basement, acquired an organ(an organ!), realized I need to sell some junk, hung up and taken down many-a-thing. Maybe someday I'll take a picture....

But until then let's dream of having an entryway.

{photo from you are my fav jr}

A few months ago I was lucky enough to take photos of the (now famous) Lauren and Ben (here).

Here is their film that Ryan made as part of their Iris and Light photo + film package.

They are the cutest and I LOVE this song!

Happy Weekend!!!

What did you love about this week??

ps. don't forget to enter Liesl's super cute giveaway!

tea for three

*******************************

the details:

1. the girl. 3 years old. very, very happy.

2. The dress: Libery of London for Target

3. The crown. Card stock, plastic pearls, glitter, and hot glue. 100% easy.

4. The banner. Fabric swatches (I've been saving for years from back in the day when I sold Modbe) + string

5. the "tea": Archer Farms Italian Soda

6. the hats: the boys' came from a party store, grandmas was in the $1 bin at Target and she added the bow. I wore my giant sunhat with a tulle bow attached.

7. The boys: what great sports!

8. The grandma and grandpa: Came from Montana!! yay!

9. Myself: this only got me started on ideas for a real live big girl tea party I'd like to have someday....who will come?

10. The cupcakes (lots) (I halved both recipes):

Chocolate Cupcakes

3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 c butter

1 c sugar

3 eggs

1/2 c (or a couple good globs:) of mayonnaise. yup. get over it.

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Mix together: 1 cup boiling water and cocoa. Set aside.

Mix flour, soda, and salt together, set aside.

Cream together in large bowl: butter, sugar. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. mix in mayo.

Add vanilla.

Add the cocoa/hot water mixture and beat for 2 minutes.

Add the dry ingredients, and stir just until mixed.

Pour into cupcake liners. Bake at 350° for 13-15 minutes

Yellow Butter Mini Cupcakes (cake recipe from Sunset Magazine)

2 1/4 cups cake flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups sugar

About 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2/3 cup milk

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat sugar and 1/2 cup butter until creamy. Crack eggs into a small dish (do not beat) and add vanilla. Add eggs to the butter mixture 1 at a time, scraping down the inside of the bowl as needed. Beat in flour mixture and milk in alternating batches, starting and ending with the flour and making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next.

2. Butter and flour mini cupcake pans.

Divide batter evenly.

3. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 8-10 minutes.

4. Cool 5 minutes. Invert onto a rack, remove pans, and let cool to room temperature, at least 40 minutes.

Mom's Chocolate Buttercream

cream together

Butter + Powdered Sugar + Cocoa + Milk until she thought it was just right.

it was.

Strawberry Buttercream

cream together

6-8 strawberries, pureed until smooth.

1/2 stick butter.

Powdered sugar until it's the right thickness

Vanilla Bean Buttercream:

cream together

1 stick (1/2 c) butter

4 cups powdered sugar

4-5 TBS milk

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

seeds of 1/2 a vanilla bean

Happy 3 to my baby girl!